Pitting-and-stuffing olives, a device for working it and the product obtained therefrom

ABSTRACT

A device for pitting and pitting-and-stuffing olives includes two axially aligned punches for simultaneously cutting through an olive and of the end faces of which is fittingly supported in a seat formed in a cap positioned between the punches. One of the punches is hollow to provide access for a stuffing paste to be inserted into a pitted olive. Each punch has the same number of cutting fins of the same configuration. The cap has radial grooves coinciding in position with the cutting fins of each punch.

This is a division of application Ser. No. 031,800, filed Mar. 30, 1987,U.S. Pat. No. 4,847,101.

OBJECT OF THE INVENTION

This invention refers to a new method for pitting olives different toknown methods, either for direct consumption as pitted olives, or forsubsequently stuffing with any product, or slicing them, the inventionalso being centered on a device for working this method, intended toform part of a pitting machine, and the invention likewise affecting theproduct obtained, specifically a pitted olive with completely differentcharacteristics to those of olives pitted with conventional methods.

ANTECEDENTS OF THE INVENTION

As is known in the olive industry, and more specifically within thescope of the so-called table olive, there is great demand for thispitted fruit, both for consumption as such, without the stone, andstuffed with different products, such as anchovies, sweet pepper, etc.,there also being a growing demand, although to a less extent for themoment, of olives which are sliced after having the stone removed.

Merely as an example, it can be said that in an annual campaign in Spainapproximately 50 million kilos of olives are pitted, a figure which isdoubled, i.e., which reaches 100 million kilos in the United States.

There are also other countries with high olive productions, such asGreece, Morocco, Turkey, Israel, Portugal, Algeria, Mexico, Argentina,etc., countries regarding which statistics are not available on thesubject, but in which undoubtedly considerable quantities of pittedolives are produced for stuffing or otherwise, to be added to the abovefigures.

There is therefore an extremely important production of pitted olives,on an international level, either for marketing them direct as the saidpitted fruit, or after stuffing them with any suitable product, or cutinto slices.

For this purpose, pitting machines are used which generally workcontinuously and with very high production rates, exceeding 2,000 unitsper minute, being provided with means for retaining the olivesindividually and, after duly securing them, remove the stone.

Specifically, the pitting method known, after duly securing the fruit,consists of producing a cut in one of its polar areas, said cut having adiameter according to the size of the stone, and then attacks the oliveby its opposite end with a pushing element which pulls the stone and the"little lid" formed in the aformentioned cut, out of the olive, incertain cases the little lid coming away from the stone and the said lidbeing used specifically in certain types of stuffed olives, to close thehole previously made, whereas in the vast majority of cases, this littlelid constitutes waste which is reclaimed for obtaining oil, with veryhigh depreciation of this part of the fruit, which as a result of themethods used, and as we have already said, becomes a by-product.

To work this method, known putting machines generally on a rotary drum,include a plurality of operative units or pitting devices, in each ofwhich there is a little cap, like a dolly, on which the olive rests,which is attacked at one of its ends by a pitting punch, designed topull out the stone and by the other end through an annular nozzle whichcrosses the cap by a drill with a bigger diameter than that of thenozzle, makes the cut forming the so-called "little lid", before thepitting punch which holds the olive during the said cutting operationmakes its final forward movement, at the same time as the nozzle recedesto remove the stone.

Thus, according to the foregoing description, each olive which reachesthe machine is held against the respective cap by the correspondingpitting punch; in this retained position, the nozzle attacks to cut thelittle cover and the said nozzle is again withdrawn, at the same time asthe pitting punch advances, so that the stone can be ejected through thehole made in the olive by the oft-quoted cutting nozzle.

Once the nozzle-little cover-stone-end assembly of the pitting punch haspassed the cap or dolly, two situations are produced, depending on thefinal product it is wished to obtain:

1. If it is only wished to obtain a pitted olive for marketing it directin this way, cutting it subsequently into slices or stuffing it withsome product without utilizing the "little lid", an element such as forexample a sheet or rod is placed on the machine in the suitable placewhich, on knocking the stones, separates them with the "little lid"adherred thereto, falling into a separate collector to that designed tohold the pitted olives.

2. When it is wished to obtain certain types of stuffing, using thelittle lid, among other ways of utilizing it, we can quote one in whicha fixed knife is provided on the machine in a suitable place, so that,taking advantage of one of te stages of the pitting process when thestone is gripped by the nozzle with the little lid inserted inside thelatter, on passing through the point where the former is located, thelittle lid is separated from the stone, and it is then that a shankrunning inside the nozzle, after inserting the stuffing in the pittedolive, takes the little lid inside the olive, closing the outlet, in acombined movement of the shank and nozzle, while the stone, now withoutthe little lid, falls into its respective collector.

According to the aforementioned method and device, in any case and asthe final result, a pitted olive is obtained which always has a hole atone of its ends, whose diameter coincides basically with that of thestone which has been removed from it.

Well now, the aforementioned pitting method entails a serious problem.Specifically, the little lid accounts for up to 7% in weight of theolive pulp, although this varies according to the type of oliveconcerned. Although this pulp from the lid can be recovered, while thepitted olive, in keeping with current market prices, can be worth about150 Pts/kg., the little lid, as a waste product, reaches a price ofaround 7 Pts/kg., i.e., a price which is practically twenty times less.

To conclude commenting on this method, due to the reduction in effectiveweight of the pitted olives, and to the low price of the little lids aswaste material, which specifically in the case of annual production inthe United States, involves 100 million kgs., losses of 750 millionpesetas per campaign, data which, extrapolated to other olive producingcountries, give a perfectly clear idea of the importance of thisproblem, derived from eliminating the little lid and recovering it as alow-priced byproduct.

On the other hand, when it concerns olives which have to be stuffed,after pitting a special consistency is required in the stuffing so thatthe "little lid" really serves as a cover and that the stuffing does notcome out. If the stuffing material is not consistent enough, althoughthe olive has its lid on, the stuffing can dissolve in the liquid usedto conserve the fruit.

Logically, none of the machines existing in the market succeeds inplacing the lid on a hundred per cent of the olives they process and, onthe other hand, since the subsequent processes which the olives have toundergo after leaving the pitting machine until they reach the containerinvolve a considerable amount of them coming away, with thecorresponding effect of the stuffing coming out of the olives, saidstuffing material and lids which can, in fact, be observed in anycontainer of fruit stuffed by this method found on the market.

All the foregoing involves, on the one hand, a loss in weight of thefinal product with its respective economic repercussion, apart from thepoor quality which the finished product offers.

DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The method for pitting olives which the invention proposes has beendesigned to overcome all the problems described until here in theirdifferent aspects, allowing the integral utilization of the olive pulp,preventing a lower-priced by-product being originated on account ofpitting, as occurs with the conventional method, and also without theexistence of holes which enable the stuffing to come out, in the case ofthe olives being suffed, as well as pitted.

Furthermore, this is achieved with a device which can be adapted topitting or pitting-and-stuffing machines already known, obtaining apitted or stuffed olive as the final result, which offers a completelydifferent appearance to classic olives of this type, to be precise,which look the same as an olive with its stone.

To do so, to be more precise, the method for pitting olives which theinvention proposes, consists of performing this operation by attackingthe olive with two punches, at both its end areas, producing cuts in itwhich do not cause eliminating material, specifically cuts which, forexample, emerge radially from two imaginary points coinciding with theends of their likewise imaginary longer axis, later proceeding, aftermaking these cuts, to pushing the stone axially, so that it is "tornaway" from the pulp and ejected through "elastic deformation" of thesaid pulp, corresponding to the cuts of one of the ends of the olive,deformation which furthermore is only temporary, as once the stone hasbeen removed, and alonside the retraction of the pusher, the deformedend of the olive is "closed" again, adopting its original configuration,i.e., that which it had when the stone was still inside it, and the cutsin one of its ends to push the stone, and the cuts made the other end toenable it to come out being both practically imperceptible at a glance.

In order to work this method, there has been provided a device intendedto form part of known pitting or pitting-and-stuffing machines, in whichthe classic caps form a part, as a seat for the olives, althoughmodified, and the likewise classic pitting punches, whereas the classicannular cutting nozzles to define the classic little lids are replacedby punches similar to the pitting punches, placed opposite the latter,and with the obvious purpose of making the necessary cuts in the oliveto determine the temporary opening in it through which the stone is tobe ejected by the pitting punches.

The aforementioned modifications regarding the cap do not affect itregarding the configuration within it of a bed or seat for the olive,only affecting the configuration of its hole for the nozzle and stone topass; said hole, instead of being circular, according to classicnozzles, will now adopt the configuration of radial grooves whichcoincide dimensionally and position-wise with the fins with cuttingedges with which the pitting and complementary punches are provided.

From this basic construction, it is even possible to dispense with thecomplementary punches, so that the "hole" in the olive for the stone toemerge is produced by the mere pressure of the pitting punch against thestone, and of this against the cap with the pulp placed between, asolution which is obviously more imperfect since the cutting lines ofthe olive are not foreseen.

Finally, in those cases in which the olive, apart from being pitted, hasto be stuffed with a product, such as for example anchovy paste, sweetpepper or the like, it has been provided that the pitting punch or thepunch which produces cuts in the outlet area of the stone, be hollow sothat through it the desired stuffing operation can take place,immediately after the pitting stage, and in the same machine, which inthis case, obviously, will be a pitting-and-stuffing machine.

As another feature of the invention, an olive is obtained which is wellpitted, well pitted and stuffed, which offers an entirely novelappearance, specifically an outer surface, virtually continuous andclosed, very similar to what it looked like before having the stoneremoved.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To complete the description being made and in order to assist a betterunderstanding of the features of the invention, a set of drawings isattached to this Specification, as an integral part thereof, in whichwith an instructive and unrestricted nature, the following has beenshown:

(a) On pitting by the known method.

FIGS. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 represent the operative stages of the saidprocess, showing the following:

Fig. 1 represents diagrammatically the situation in which the fruit andoperating elements for pitting are to be found before the said pittingcommences.

FIG. 2 represents the situation of the operation in which the stone hasalready been removed from the olive and is still held between the nozzleand the pitting punch.

FIG. 4 represents the moment when the nozzle releases the stone for itto drop into its respective collector.

FIG. 5 represents the fruit already pitted and free to fall by gravityinto the fruit collector.

(b) On pitting and stuffing by the known method, placing the little lid.

FIGS. 6 to 15 represent the operative stages of this process, in whichthe following is shown:

FIG. 6 represents the initial position of the fruit and operatingelements before the pitting and stuffing cycle starts.

FIG. 7 represents the moment, after the sequences of FIGS. 2 and 3described in section (a) above have been performed, the stone with its"little lid" are gripped between the pitting punch and the nozzle,visible with the complete little lid and part of the stone housed insidethe latter.

FIG. 8 represents the moment when the "little lid", stuck to the stone,remains inside the nozzle, as in the previous process, but now withoutmaking contact with the pitting punch.

FIG. 9 represents the moment when the stone is separated from the littlelid, it being clearly observed how the latter is still housed inside thenozzle, but has been separated from the stone.

FIG. 10 represents the moment when the stone is forced to leave the axisof the nozzle so as not to upset the stuffing stage.

FIG. 11 shows the situation of all the operating elements and how thestone is released to fall by gravity into its corresponding collector.

FIG. 12 shows diagrammatically the moment when the stuffing material isinserted in the mouth of the olive opened by the nozzle.

FIG. 13 represents the moment when the operating elements interveningmake the little lid place itself over the opening which was left in theolive when the lid was removed.

FIG. 14 represents the situation of the little lid and the stuffing oncethe operating elements have again intervened in the process.

FIG. 15 represents what the stuffed fruit looks like after all theoperations in the process have been completed, and also its suspendedposition without any element to prevent it falling by gravity into itsrespective collector.

All the figures described here are given in Patent of Invention number537,820, owned by the applicant of this invention.

(c) On pitting with the method of the invention, whose patent is appliedfor.

FIGS. 16, 17, 18, 19 and 20 represent how pitting is performed by thismethod and what the final resultant product looks like.

FIG. 16 represents the situation of both the fruit and the operatingelements before starting the process.

FIG. 17 represents the moment in which the dynamic operating elementshave simultaneously pierced the olive, grasping the stone.

FIG. 18 represents the moment when the stone has been removed from theolive and consequently the latter has been left hollow.

FIG. 19 represents the moment when the stone has been released, so thatit can fall by gravity to the respective collector.

FIG. 20 represents the moment when the pitted olive is also released,likewise to be able to fall into its respective collector.

(d) On pitting and stuffing by the method whose patent of invention isapplied for.

FIG. 21 represents the starting situation of the process, i.e., themoment when all the operating elements are arranged to remove the stone.

FIG. 22 represents the moment when the fruit is resting on the cap ordolly and the operating punches have pierced the olive, producing cutsuntil the stone is gripped between its ends.

FIG. 23 represents the moment when, as in FIG. 18, the stone has beenremoved from the olive, leaving it hollow and ready to receive thestuffing material chosen.

FIG. 23' represents the moment when the stone has been released, so thatit can fall by gravity into the respective collector.

FIG. 24 represents the situation of both the fruit and the operatingelements, for receiving the stuffing material, in the case that of thetwo alternatives considered in the specification, it is decided toinsert the stuffing through the complementary punch.

FIG. 25 represents the situation of both the fruit and the operatingelements to be able to receive the stuffing material in the event thatof the two alternatives considered in the specification, it is decidedto insert the stuffing material through the pitting punch.

FIG. 26 represents the situation of the operating elements and fruitonce the stuffing material has been inserted in the latter, according tothe option shown in FIG. 24.

FIG. 27 represents the situation of the operating elements and fruitonce the stuffing material has been inserted in it, according to theoperation shown in FIG. 25.

FIG. 28 represents the free situation of the olive to fall into itsrespective collector, once all the operating elements are no longer incontact with it.

(e) On the elements which characterize the invention whose patent isapplied for.

FIG. 29 represents the elevation and profile views in which thecharacteristics are illustrated of the cap or dolly which intervene toassist in the pitting process of this invention.

FIG. 30 represents several of the operations which can be chosen for thephysical construction both of the pitting punch and of the complementarypunch, always in the event of it only being wished to remove the stone.

FIG. 31 shows only an embodiment variation both of the pitting punch andthe complementary punch in the event that, as well as pitting, it iswished to stuff the olive immediately with a suitable paste of anysuitable product.

(f) On the products obtained.

FIG. 32 represents a cross-section elevation of the pitted fruitobtained and its two side views, in the event that the option taken bothregarding the pitting punch and the complementary punch is that ofmaking them with four radial fins at 90°.

FIG. 33 represents a cross-section elevation view of the pitted andstuffed fruit obtained and its two side views, in the case that theoption taken both for the pitting punch and the complementary punch isthat of making them with four radial fins at 90°.

PREFERRED EMBODIMENT OF THE INVENTION

We shall not endeavour to describe in full detail what has been outlinedbriefly in sections (c), (d), (e) and (f).

Regarding the pitting method, which we have referred to in section (c),the following is specified:

In FIGS. 16, the olive 1, chain 2, cap or dolly 3, pitting punch 4,complementary punch 5, and the seed or stone of the olive 6, arerepresented. This situation of the elements materializes the moment inwhich each and all of them are at the start of the pitting process.

In a second operative stage, shown in FIG. 17, both the pitting punch 4and the complementary punch 5, attack the olive simultaneously, thecomplementary punch 5 crossing the cap 3 and piercing the pulp 1 to oneof the ends of the stone 6 of the olive, at the same time as the pittingpunch 4 has also done so until it contacts the opposite end of the saidstone.

From this moment, and according to the illustration in FIG. 18, thecomplementary punch 5 inverts its movement, retracting axially with thesame linear speed as the punch 4 advances.

At the same time as the pitting punch 4 continues in its path making thestone come away from the pulp and ejecting it through the grooves 10placed in the cap 3 but, and this is very important, without anymaterial coming away from the olive other than that which constitutesits stone 6, until a limit situation in which the complementary punch iskept stationary and the pitting punch starts its retracting movement.

After the pitting punch 4 has started its retracting movement in thedirection indicated by the arrow in FIG. 19, the stone 6 is released tofall by gravity into its respective collector.

Due to the friction effect of the punch 4 against the walls, produced inpiercing the olive, the former usually drags it in its movement, so thatit can be released and also fall by gravity into its collector, therebeing provided a perforated plate 7 with a groove wider than thediameter of the punch 4 and smaller than that of the olive 1, and ofsuitable length, according to the machine to which the elementsresulting from the patent of invention are applied.

In this way, the said plate 7 will act to detach the fruit, releasing itand separating it from the punch 4, so that it can fall withoutdifficulty into its respective collector.

According to this method, and in order to work it, the pitting device,adaptable to suitable pitting machines, maintains the classic pittingpunch 4 and the modified cap 3, but replaces the classic annular nozzleby the complementary punch 5 which, like the nozzle quoted, is arrangedin axial alignment and placed against the pitting punch 4.

As shown in turn in FIG. 30, these punches 4 and 5 can adopt numerousconfigurations, preferably maintaining the constant that in theiroperative ends and from a middle point coinciding with the imaginaryaxis of the punch, cutting fins 8 emerge radially which are to producethe necessary cuts in the olive 1 to allow the pitting punch 4 to reachinside it, and that from within it, the stone 6 is ejected, withoutfragmentations being produced, leading to waste pulp.

On the other hand, the cap 3 has a resilient structure and has a centralconcavity 9 which acts as a bed for one of the poles of the olive 1 tofit, there being foreseen within the bed some radial grooves 10 to allowthe fins of the punches 4 and 5 to pass and also to allow the stone 6 ofthe olive to be pitted to pass.

The radial grooves 10 will be arranged in varying number, but coincidingwith the fins of the punches 4 and 5, so that by its own elasticrecovery, the cap forces the pulp of the olive to regain its originalshape after the stone has left.

As explained above, it is feasible when working the method, for thedevice not to have the complementary punch 5, so that it is the actualpressure of the pitting punch 4 against the stone 6 which separates thestone from the olive, on pressing the said stone against the pulp and onthe seat 9 of the cap 3.

In any event, according to the fundamental aim of the invention, apitted olive is obtained which at the end of the process has all of itspulp, i.e., exclusively the stone has been removed, the said pulp beingin one piece, although it has cuts which are hardly perceivable, for thestone to be pushed and ejected, hence the olive, as the final product,has an appearance which practically coincides with that of an olive withthe stone, although it has been deprived of same, as can be seen in FIG.32.

After disclosing sufficiently the pitting procedure by the methodproposed in section (c), we now go on to describe the pitting andstuffing process, following the method invoked in section (d).

FIG. 21 represents the situation in which both the fruit and theoperating elements are to be found before the process commences.

On this figure the following can be observed: the olive 1, the placingchain 2, the cap or dolly 3, the pitting punch 4, the complementarypunch 5, the stone of the olive 6, and the gripping device 11 of thefruit 1.

FIG. 22 represents the immobilized olive and the punches inserted in thepulp, their attack ends contacting the opposite poles of the stone 6.The gripping device 11 is also in contact with the corresponding pole ofthe olive 1.

FIG. 23 represents the moment when the stone has been removed from theolive and consequently the latter is now hollow. The gripping device 11continues to keep the olive 1 immobilized.

FIG. 23' represents the moment when the stone has been released so thatit can fall by gravity into the respective collector.

Until here it has been described how pitting is performed, after whichthere are two options for executing the stuffing, which are bothschematized in FIGS. 24 and 25.

The difference between both alternatives lies in that in the option inFIG. 24 it is the complementary punch 5 which is used to insert thestuffing material, until it reaches the hollow left by the stone in theolive, and in the option in FIG. 25, the situation is shown in the casein which the stuffing paste is inserted through the inside of thepitting punch 4.

Naturally, in both cases, the punches 4 and 5 have holes 12 throughwhich the stuffing mass is injected into the hollow left by the stone ofthe olive.

It can be seen in FIG. 33 what the final product looks like, i.e., thestuffed olive, both in the case that it has been stuffed by punch 5 orpunch 4.

Finally, FIG. 28 represents the moment when the gripping device 11 isseparated from the fruit 1, releasing it so that it falls by gravityinto the collector.

As can be seen in FIGS. 32 and 33, both the simply pitted olive 1 andthe olive provided with an inner stuffing 13 maintains the whole of itsoriginal pulp and the observer can only see respective cuts 14 in itspolar areas with a morphology similar to that of the pitting andcomplementary punches used, i.e., with an external surface whose grooves14 are practically closed.

Finally, it should be stressed that as the pitted olive is perfectlyclosed throughout its contour, it is its actual pulp which acts as acontainer and integral fastening of its inner hollow, hence in the eventthat the said olive is stuffed, the classic risks of the said stuffingcoming out are also eliminated.

It is not considered necessary to make this description any moreextensive for an expert on the subject to understand the scope of theinvention and the advantages derived therefrom.

The materials, shape, size and layout of the elements will be liable tovariation, provided this does not involve altering the essense of theinvention.

The terms in which this Specification has been described must always betaken in their fullest and not restrictive sense.

I claim:
 1. A device for pitting and pitting-and-stuffing olives,comprising a stationary cap formed with a seat for supporting an endface of an olive being pitted, said seat having a configuration matchingthat of said end face to provide a bed for said olive; a first pittingpunch which constitutes a first cutting element having cutting finsthereon; and a second complementary punch which constitutes a secondcutting element and has the same cutting fins as said first cuttingelement, said first and second punches being positioned in an axialalignment with each other and opposite each other relative to the olivebeing pitted to simultaneously cut through said olive and eject a pittherefrom, said cap being positioned between said first and secondpunches, said cutting fins on each punch being the same in number andextending radially outwardly from an axis of the respective punch.
 2. Adevice according to claim 1, wherein said cap includes a plurality ofradially extending grooves, the number and position of which coincidewith those of the cutting fins of said first and second punch so as toallow said cutting fins to pass through said grooves and said pit to beejected from the olive.
 3. A device according to claim 1, wherein atleast one of said first and second punches is hollow to provide accessfor a stuffing paste into a pitted olive after a pit has been removed bysaid punches therefrom.
 4. A device according to claim 2, wherein saidseat is a substantially convex cavity formed in an end face of said cap.